ST. PAUL, Minn. — The door to the Minnesota Wild’s dressing room remained shut. As the top seed in the Frozen Four at the Xcel Energy Center, the Boston College men’s hockey team had been rewarded with the privilege of using the home team’s locker room.
But as the clock continued to tick after the Eagles’ bid for a sixth national championship came to an end with a 2-0 loss to Denver, it was clear the team was not quite ready to move on.
When the doors did open, many of the players sat by their lockers in stunned silence. Cutter Gauthier, who entered the contest having accumulated 38 goals in 40 games, was still in uniform, skates and all, the only item missing was his helmet.
“They played a tight trap game against us, limiting our speed,” Gauthier said. “We’re a team that likes to play off the rush, and they slowed us down a lot, created a lot of turnovers, and shoved it down our throats.”
All season long, opponents did their best to slow down BC’s high flying offense. Few were successful, as only once had the top-ranked Eagles (34-6-1) been held to less than two goals, and that was in a winning effort.
But Denver (32-9-3) found a way, stifling BC’s attack and getting second-period goals from Jared Wright and Reiger Lorenz to take a two-goal advantage into the third period. It boded well for the Pioneers, who would improve to 26-2-1 when leading after two periods.
Denver limited BC’s chances all game, and when the Eagles managed to get a good look, goalie Matt Davis (35 saves) was up to the challenge. The junior particularly stood tall during BC’s two power plays in the third period, when the Eagles rolled out their four first-round draft picks — Gauthier, Gabe Perreault, Will Smith, and Ryan Leonard — with the man advantage but failed to capitalize each time. The best chance came when Perreault hit Leonard with a pass across the front of the goal, but Davis made a lunging save to deny Leonard’s bid.
“I felt like we were the best team out there today, and we got beat by a goalie,” Leonard said. “It’s obviously frustrating. You want to score and you want to win. There’s a lot of winners in this locker room and it hurts a lot.”
After a scoreless first period in which the Eagles had several strong chances, Denver was awarded the game’s first power play at 4:31 of the second when Mike Posma was whistled off for boarding. The junior knocked Denver captain McKade Webster into the boards, sending him crumpling to the ice. The Pioneers looked to be considering whether or not to challenge for a five-minute major, but decided against it.
BC, which entered the contest with a penalty kill of 88.9 percent, was again up to the task and kept the Pioneers off the board.
Denver finally broke through halfway through the game. Jared Wright did the honors when his shot went over the right shoulder of Jacob Fowler (24 saves), clanked off the left post, then off the goalie’s back and into the net at 9:42.
Wright had another bid denied moments later by Fowler, but the lead would grow to 2-0 when Zeev Buium gathered the puck in the BC zone and drew a pair of defenders away from the net before dishing it to Lorenz, who beat Fowler top shelf at 15:16.
From there, it was just a matter of the Pioneers withstanding a furious push from BC, which landed 23 shots in the third period.
“They played a heck of a game tonight,” BC coach Greg Brown said. “It was a championship battle, and they were as stingy and tight defensively as we’ve seen this year. They did a great job. Played a lot of winning hockey. They played like a championship team. So that being said, proud of our guys, too. It was not only the season they had, but the game they had tonight. We made a great push in the third. Had a lot of chances. Their goalie played great. They got some blocks. Hit a post or two.
“When it’s a one-game series, you need some breaks in there. So our guys gave everything they had, and tonight wasn’t their night.”
Follow Andrew Mahoney @GlobeMahoney.